Elite Level Refereeing in Men's Football
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Elite Level Refereeing in Men’s Football: A Developmental Sociological Account Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester By Sharon Colwell Department of Sociology University of Leicester March, 2004 Abstract This thesis explores ‘when’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ refereeing and refereeing problems have developed in elite level English men’s football. The study, which is framed by a figurational or process sociological approach traces the origins and development of match officiating from the mid 19th century through to the 2000-01 Premier League season. The analysis begins with the introduction of ‘third parties’ to oversee the early football-like games and concludes with a discussion of the key issues raised in interviews with elite level refereeing personnel. In between, the development of various administrative bodies which have been concerned with refereeing practices and problems, such as the FA, the Football League, FIFA and the Referees’ Union are discussed. Throughout, I explore changes in officiating through an in-depth analysis of the FA Laws of the Game and critically assess what these Laws ‘tell us’ about the way football was played from the mid 19th century. This study then considers the changing status of match officials through the 20th century and explores the impact of television and newspaper coverage on our perceptions of refereeing problems in the contemporary game. Throughout, I analyse the dynamic power relationships between players, administrators, fans, media personnel and referees in order to develop our understanding of how refereeing problems have emerged. Throughout I contextualise match officials within the broader relational network of which they are a part in order to understand how referees have been constrained and/ or enabled by other members of the football ‘world’. i Acknowledgements This study was made possible by Singer & Friedlander’s generous provision of funding for a studentship at the Centre for Research into Sport and Society (CRSS). I thank them for their contribution and, in particular, express my gratitude to Singer & Friedlander’s Tony Fraher and Simon Ballard, who were instrumental in setting up the studentship. My supervisor, Patrick Murphy, was also instrumental in that process - a typical example of his entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to supporting young researchers which characterised his work at the CRSS in Leicester. Throughout this project, Patrick has generously shared his sociological knowledge, his ideas and his enthusiasm. This study would not be what it is without him and I would like to thank him here. Thanks are also due to Dr Martin Roderick who was always willing to share his sociological insights, his experiences of ‘doing research’ and his terrible jokes. His modest, unassuming interventions have been genuinely supportive and I would like to thank him for his help and, in particular, for his encouragement in the latter stages. Ivan Waddington also provided advice and helped keep me on track during difficult moments. Lisa Heggs, Dominic Malcolm, Eric Dunning, Ken Sheard, Margaret Milsom and Mary Needham all offered advice and/or kind words along the way, for which thanks are extended. So too did Sandy Pearson, along with some lifesaving computer- related interventions, which I would like to thank her for here. I am extremely grateful and indebted to my partner, Anna Engel, who has endured the long road to submission with amazing patience. She has been incredibly supportive and understanding and, without her, this project would never have been completed. To Anna, Filbert and Caffrey: thank you for keeping me going. Thanks too to our family and friends, especially my mum and dad, Ann and Cliff Colwell, for their encouragement and regular enquires about my progress (despite their bemusement at the subject matter) and to Sam and Andr for the same. Thanks to Liz Clough, for proof reading with such a keen eye and for offering support for the duration, and to Burgess and Simpson and Tom and Ana for knowing when and how to say the right thing – your encouragement has meant a lot to me. And to Betty Kerr, who was a good friend and a great woman, thank you for your support and I wish you were here to see the end product. Philip Don, the former Premier League Referees’ Officer, deserves special thanks for his involvement in and enthusiasm for the project and for facilitating the process of making contact with many of the participants in this study. Arthur Smith at the Referees’ Association was similarly ii enthusiastic and helpful, as were numerous members of local referees’ associations to whom I would like to express my gratitude. Thanks are also due to the FA’s David Barber who was extremely helpful and generous with his time and expertise. Finally I would like to thank the referees, match delegates, referee coaches and football administrators who gave up their time to be interviewed for this study. Their significant contributions to this project are greatly appreciated and I hope the following study accurately represents their views and experiences. iii Abbreviations AFLR&L Association of Football League Referees & Linesmen (1930- 1992) APLFLMO Association of Premier League and Football League Match Officials (1992-) B&DRA Birmingham & District Referees’ Association CRSS Centre for Research into Sport and Society FIFA Federation Internationale de Football Association IFAB International Football Association Board LMA League Managers Association LMC League Management Committee LOTG The FA Laws of the Game The Laws The FA Laws of the Game LRA Lancashire Referees Association PFA The Professional Footballers Association The FA The Football Association The RA The Referees’ Association (1893- c1900); based in London (London) The RU The Referees’ Union (1908- 1921/22, when renamed The RA); national organisation. The RA The Referees’ Association (1921/22- present) Formerly The RU. The SFA The Scottish Football Association S&DRA Sheffield & District Referees’ Association S&HCFA Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA TSG Technical Study Group (responsible for reporting on the organisation of World Cup tournaments). UEFA Union des Associations Européennes de Football The WFA The Welsh Football Association iv Contents Page Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Table of Abbreviations iv Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Theory & Method 14 Chapter 3 The Origins of Match Officiating 65 Chapter 4 Written Rules and The Laws of the Game 1863 – 1892 94 Chapter 5 Practical Refereeing Issues 1880s – 1900s 141 Chapter 6 The Referees’ Union 175 Chapter 7 International Refereeing Issues 219 Chapter 8 The World Cup & Violent Play 248 Chapter 9 The Redefinition of Refereeing Problems in the Media 291 Chapter 10 Refereeing in the Premier League 319 Conclusion Key Findings and Implications for the Future 343 Bibliography 353 Appendices 376 Chapter 1 Introduction to the Study This thesis explores „when‟, „how‟ and „why‟ refereeing and refereeing problems have developed in elite level English football. It is the first study to explore the long term development of match officiating and to attempt to address these questions. The analysis begins with the introduction of „third parties‟ to oversee the early football-like games and concludes with a discussion of the key issues raised in interviews with Premier League referees. In between, I consider the development of the various administrative bodies which have been concerned with refereeing practices and problems, such as the FA, the Football League, FIFA and the Referees‟ Union. I trace the development of refereeing through an in depth analysis of the FA laws of the game, critically assessing what these laws „tell us‟ about the way football was played in the mid to late 19th century. I examine the changing status of match officials over time and explore the impact of television and newspaper coverage on our perceptions of refereeing problems in the contemporary game. Throughout, I analyse the dynamic power relationships between players, administrators, fans, media personnel and referees in order to develop our understanding of how refereeing problems have emerged. And, I contextualise match officials within the broader relational network of which they are a part in order to understand how referees have been constrained and/ or enabled by other members of the football „world‟. That refereeing is an „issue‟ in the contemporary game is apparent from the headlines in the football pages which appear with reassuring regularity year on year. „Bad refereeing becoming a plague‟ (ET, 6/2/1996) is a typical example, a variation on which is guaranteed to come up every season1. But how long has refereeing been an „issue‟ in football? How did it come to be seen as a problem? And why does the refereeing „crisis‟ recur? This thesis goes some way to answering these questions which have, to date, received little attention in the academic sports literature. For, whilst the increased 1 scholarly interest in football over recent years has advanced our knowledge about many aspects of the game2, writers and researchers have generally had relatively little to say about refereeing. As such, our understanding of match officiating has progressed only marginally in the decades since Mason (1980, 162) observed “[w]e do not know much about referees” in his seminal text on the social history of association football. In the academic literature, references to match officials are few and far between – including in texts offering otherwise relatively comprehensive analyses of specific periods in association football history (see, for example: Russell (1997), Walvin (2001 & 1975) and Green (1956)). Indeed, despite making the observation, Mason himself actually does little to address the lack of information on referees in his otherwise exhaustively researched and comprehensive text. Whilst he devotes separate chapters to clubs, players, crowds, „amateurs and professionals‟, and to „drink, gambling and the sporting press‟, referees are dealt with fleetingly, with the most in depth analysis covering just a few pages (see pp.